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Major League Baseball already knew about aging Red Sox ace Curt Schilling being approached by a club employee in 2008 who suggested he try performance-enhancing drugs to resurrect his career before Schilling revealed it in a radio interview Wednesday.

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
02/08/2013 06:34:53 AM EST

"The club immediately notified us," MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney told mlb.com Thursday night. "We take these matters very seriously, and an investigation was completed."

MLB did not release the findings of that investigation or say whether the unidentified employee was fired. Schilling didn't identify the employee either but said that person is no longer a member of the Red Sox organization. Schilling wrote on Twitter Thursday that the employee "wasn't anyone in uniform, nor the baseball ops group."

Baseball union head Michael Weiner says it would be unfair to make judgments about players and agents before evidence is sorted out in the sport's latest drug investigation. Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz, Ryan Braun, and Jhonny Peralta are among those implicated.

Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners are working on a $175 million, seven-year contract that would make him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball, according to a person with knowledge of the deal's details ... Infielder Mike Aviles and the Cleveland Indians agreed Thursday to a $6 million, two-year contract that includes a club option for 2015.

CYCLING

Armstrong sued for $12 million

A Dallas promotions company sued Lance Armstrong on Thursday, demanding he repay $12 million in bonuses and fees it paid him for winning the Tour de France.

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SCA Promotions had tried in a 2005 legal dispute over the bonuses to prove Armstrong cheated to win before it ultimately settled and paid him. Now, the company contends in its lawsuit, Armstrong and agent Bill Stapleton lied and conspired to cheat SCA out of millions after Armstrong recently acknowledged he had used performance-enhancing drugs.

GOLF

Fair skies for Mahan

Hunter Mahan was bracing for the worst of Pebble Beach, his golf bag weighed down with rain gear and everything else to handle nasty weather. Instead, he was reminded how much he loves this place.

It helps that Mahan drilled a 3-wood onto the 18th green for a two-putt birdie that gave him a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead to par with Russell Knox in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Thursday. Better yet, the rain everyone was expecting early in the afternoon never showed up. Mahan took advantage of a gorgeous day by attacking Pebble Beach, the place to be when the conditions are calm. He missed only two greens -- one of those on the edge -- and only had one birdie attempt longer than 20 feet.

GENERAL

Hawks lose Williams for year

Atlanta Hawks guard Lou Williams has had reconstructive surgery on his right knee and will now begin a long rehabilitation period that could leave his status in question for the start of next season. Williams, who was averaging 14.1 points, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee in the Hawks' game at Brooklyn on Jan. 18 ... Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson had surgery on Thursday to repair a sports hernia in his abdomen, an injury that bothered him for much of the last month of the season while he came up just 8 yards short of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record ... The fourth singles in a Fed Cup series will be scrapped if a team has an unassailable 3-0 lead, the International Tennis Federation announced Thursday ... Rusty Wallace, winner of 55 races and the 1989 Cup championship, will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Friday night along with champions Buck Baker and Herb Thomas; championship car owner Cotton Owens; and innovative crew chief, mechanic and engine builder Leonard Wood.

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